Center placed equipment stands

I have a 9 foot high chimney breast between my speakers. And one speaker is closer to it than the other. Real world room problems. 

In addition to no rack or a low rack between speakers, don't stare at anything. Close your eyes and LISTEN. Music always sounds better with eyes closed.

My speakers are 6' from the front wall which is populated by tall equipment racks and CD storage. If you've got the space to move your speakers out into the room the racks will act as live end diffusers. As I experimented with speaker placement I found that it got better and better the further I moved the speakers into the room. Fortunately I've got a big room (35' x 22') so this is possible.

I had a similar experience. My stands are 13 inches high. I was doing some housekeeping recently and had occasion to place a cardboard carton of LPs on the floor between my floor standers immediately in front of the electronics stands. The improvement in soundstage and detail was obvious and immediate. Strikes me it was the equivalent of placing electronics closer to the floor. Mysteries of acoustics. My wife won’t let me keep the box there, but I’m going to experiment some on the basis of the improvement I heard.

Yyzsantabarbara 

get a heavy set of floor to ceiling drapes . Fabric stores have millions of options for cheap. Slide your desk closer to the windows. Put your stereo rig in the closet. Place your speakers on either side of your work station. Just above the monitors. Set the two tall pads in the corner opposite  the windows. Keep the one between the door and closet . Place the other four on the wall behind your new seating position. Now you can at least continue programming while listening to tunes. Make the whole room a station. As opposed to a dual purpose set up. And i would probably lose those cubes and get a set of jbl 306p monitors. And some sort of dac. (Aune x1 perhaps ) sell the peach tree .